A brief summary of my energy policy positions...

Energy policy is going to become a little more controversial over the next year in Colorado so I thought I might take the time to elaborate on my energy positions.

First and foremost I believe we can reach a future with 100% renewable, low-emission energy sources, but I do not believe that future is going to come soon or easily. That being said we should do everything we can to promote the development and implementation of solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy.

We know that renewable sources cannot completely replace sources like natural gas, coal, and oil in the short-term so we must do two things: (1) restrain ourselves from demonizing the oil and gas industry and (2) reduce the amount of energy we need, thereby closing the gap between what renewable sources can provide and what we use.

We can reduce the energy we use by supporting conservation and waste-reduction efforts, by supporting energy efficiency programs for homes and businesses, by setting standards for energy efficiency in new public building construction (including schools), and by incentivizing responsible energy use.

We must also come to terms with the fact that our transportation and environmental policies are inseparable from our energy policies. For transportation we must invest in an intra-state transit network, build vehicle charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, and promote alternative transportation development. For the environment we must strive to have the best air and water quality, open space reserves, and emission standards.

Fracking is where the controversy in energy policy is and I support Governor Hickenlooper’s task force to broker compromise solutions between the oil and gas industry, environmental groups, local governments, and state interests. I do not want us to get to a point where we will not even discuss fracking because we are afraid of it, I think we should have a rational discussion with unbiased scientific information and pursue an energy policy that protects all Coloradans while giving business the ability to thrive, create jobs, and supply our short-term energy needs.

Energy policy is a broad topic so, as you might suspect, reaching our energy goals requires us to move forward on several different fronts. As much as is possible I want those solutions to come from private industry and local government, I do not think we can accomplish our long-term goals by having state or federal government take the lead alone and spend on the issue indefinitely. There are ways to encourage private industry to do things like add electric vehicle charging stations to existing gas stations, there are ways to give local government the freedom to decide how to support efficiency without a state-mandated program, there are ways to give the state a chance to launch pilot programs and lead the way on many energy solutions.

As with most policies we are not faced with a choice of one extreme or the other, but finding the best solutions will be hard work and require us to think creatively and not deal in absolutes of one or the other. We need an "all of the above" energy policy.